Key Points

The best-laid plans have a way of changing as circumstances change.
No matter when you plan to retire, it's important to learn if the budget works on paper.
Sometimes you just have to adjust your plans.

If you had asked me this time last year, I would have told you that I'm absolutely, without a doubt, waiting until age 70 to claim Social Security benefits. Today, I find myself in a different place, with a totally different plan. Here's why.

A semi-surprising retirement

I can't begin to tell you how weird it was to hear my husband say he was considering retirement. He's always been the most active, driven person I know, and I couldn't imagine him giving up the challenges he faced every day at work. I was adamantly against it for a while, primarily because I was so set on maximizing Social Security benefits by delaying our claims.

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As someone who lives and dies by strategically planning for everything - including retirement - I didn't want to react until I had time to rework the budget. I was surprised to learn that the budget works on paper.

Somehow, while I was busy contributing every extra dollar I could find into retirement accounts, I lost track of how much we'd saved. We're not rich by any means, but the money we have is estimated to last more than 30 years, as long as I withdraw 4% in the first year and increase that amount by 1.5% to 2% annually after that.

And here's where Social Security comes in. When he first started thinking about retirement, my husband wasn't that far off from full retirement age (FRA). If he could wait that long to make his claim, he'd receive 100% of his Primary Insurance Amount (PAI). By making the claim then, we could postpone taking more than necessary from our retirement accounts, allowing them more time to grow.

I hope to work indefinitely

I've never wanted to retire. I'm pretty sure I don't have the patience for it. Just the other day, it occurred to me that my desire to continue working might be one reason talk of my husband's retirement isn't quite as scary as I expected. His traditional source of income may be gone, but we have others.

We're building a healthcare account

After working and reworking our finances about 1,000 times, I realized that the only thing I fear is running out of money due to healthcare expenses in retirement. The last time I worked on the budget, I cut a few unnecessary expenses to find money to invest each month in an account dedicated solely to long-term care. Plus, now that I plan to claim Social Security at FRA, I'll add those checks to the amount I invest.

While I wish we had long-term care insurance, we don't. However, setting up this investment on autopay should provide us with roughly the same amount we would have received in lifetime maximum payouts from long-term care insurance, especially if we don't need it for a decade or more.

Finally, we're claiming Social Security earlier than expected because there's no way to know what's around the corner. Both of my husband's parents died young, and very few of his relatives lived well into their 70s. My husband is healthy, but every time I remember that he's older now than either of his parents was when they died, I'm reminded of how precious it all is.

As he joins the estimated 11,000 Americans retiring each day, I realize that leaping now means more time to enjoy life while everyone remains healthy.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.